Copenhagen, 2016-05-17 18:32 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
ALK (ALKB:DC / OMX: ALK B / AKABY / AKBLF) today announced that the Board of Directors has appointed Carsten Hellmann as the new President and CEO of the company.
Carsten Hellmann is currently CEO of Merial and Executive Vice President and member of the Executive Committee of Sanofi (NYSE:SNY). Headquartered in Lyon, Merial is Sanofi's Animal Health company with annual sales of EUR 2.6 billion (DKK 19 billion) and more than 7,000 employees worldwide. Before joining Sanofi, Carsten Hellmann held executive positions in global health care and biopharmaceutical companies including Chr. Hansen and Nunc Group. Carsten Hellmann is a Danish citizen, born in 1964.
"It is a great pleasure to announce that Carsten Hellmann will join ALK. Carsten Hellmann has extensive international experience and a strong track record of creating visible commercial results in research-based companies that share many similarities with ALK. We are convinced that Carsten Hellmann has the competences required to accelerate the global commercialisation of ALK's portfolio of evidence-based products targeting both allergic rhinitis and asthma," said Steen Riisgaard, Chairman of ALK's Board of Directors.
Carsten Hellmann commented: "ALK stands out as the world leader within allergy immunotherapy and the industry's foremost innovator. I'm inspired by ALK's vision and excited to lead ALK through its transformation to become a truly global company. ALK's innovative product range and solid partnerships form a strong foundation for growth, and I look forward to working with everyone at ALK to build an even stronger future for our patients, employees, partners and shareholders."
After a successful turn-around of Merial, Sanofi decided to divest the company to Boehringer-Ingelheim and Carsten Hellmann will complete this divestment before he takes up the position as President and CEO of ALK which will happen no later than 1 January 2017. Steen Riisgaard will continue to take on extended operational responsibilities until Carsten Hellmann is released from Sanofi.
ALK-Abelló A/S
For further information please contact:
Chairman of the Board of Directors and Acting CEO Steen Riisgaard, tel. +45 4574 7576
Media: Jeppe Ilkjær, tel. +45 7877 4532, mobile +45 3050 2014
About Carsten Hellmann
Carsten Hellmann holds a BSc in Business Administration from Copenhagen Business School from 1989, an MSc from Lancaster University in Information Management from 1990 and an executive programme from INSEAD. Carsten Hellmann began his career in 1990 at Radiometer Medical A/S as a product specialist before moving into a product manager role. He joined Novo Nordisk in 1993 and held different roles in marketing, business development, strategic alliances and business intelligence with increasing responsibilities. In 1996, he joined Synthelabo as Sales- and Marketing Director and in 1997 Pronosco A/S, a diagnostics start up specialised in osteoporosis. In 2000 he was named CEO at Nunc Group, a world leading life science consumable company. After Fisher Scientific (now ThermoFisher) acquired Nunc Group, Carsten Hellmann oversaw the integration processes before joining Chr. Hansen Holding A/S in 2006 as Executive Vice President, Global Sales, and member of the executive management board. He was appointed to his present position as CEO of Merial (www.merial.com) and Executive Vice President of Sanofi (www.sanofi.com) in 2013.
About ALK
ALK is a research-driven global pharmaceutical company focusing on allergy prevention, diagnosis and treatment. ALK is a world leader in allergy immunotherapy — a treatment of the underlying cause of allergy. The company has approximately 2,000 employees, with subsidiaries, production facilities and distributors worldwide. ALK has entered into partnership agreements with MSD (known as Merck (NYSE: MRK) in the USA and Canada) Torii, Abbott, and Seqirus to commercialise sublingual allergy immunotherapy tablets in North America, Japan, Russia, South-East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, respectively. The company is headquartered in Hørsholm, Denmark, and listed on NASDAQ Copenhagen. Find more information at www.alk.net .